Feb 1, 2007 By Kristina Michaels

Good credit, today, can determine a good job, an apartment, lower rates on your insurance, and lower home payments.
While paying your debts, start correcting your credit reports. www.transunion.com www.experian.com www.equifax.com are the 3 credit bureaus.
If you have investments, CIS of Tigard, OR may have been tapped. It uses your 3 reports and updates seldom.

Steps to building good credit

1. have a checking and savings account.
2. pay your bills on time. I recommend online banking bill pay. Use Quicken or QuickBooks, MSN Money to list dates and alerts & pay bills 12 days before the due date. Payment reminders.
3. Never cosign with anyone.
4. If you're a student, get no more than 2 major credit cards. Keep charges at 25% than credit limit.
5. Pay it every month to zero. (revolving credit cards, revolving accounts.)
6. Get a loan that has installment accounts (car loans, personal loans, mortgages) to get the best mix for a credit standing.
7. You may need to clean up your credit report before you apply. Go to the Federal Trade Commission for help. They govern all lending agencies and hold them accountable.
8. List your job with your credit report. Student, Working, etc. Graduate date. Self employment.
9. Verify the credit limit on your credit reports. Have a limit of 3000-1500.
10. How long you lived at that address shows stability. List your job title.
11. Social Security is correct. Birthday correct.
12. If a creditor will not list your account (Dept. of Veteran Affairs), you can send a letter to the bureau with your latest statement and cancelled checks to prove you paid on time.

Clear up your reports

You can order individual reports. Then they let you dispute it online. You can look for these errors that will hurt your report:

• bills that were paid and still on your report.
• bills that are not yours.

Buying a house or car — a major purchase.
For 18 months, make no major purchases with credit.
Close your store credit cards.
Keep 2 major credit cards open. No more. And use them. Keep below 25% of credit limit.
Too many credit cards lowers your credit score.

Credit Cards

Close your store cards - block them. Have 3 major credit cards. Visa, Master Card, Discover, MBNA, A major bank card.
Be reported on all 3 credit bureaus.

Secured Credit Cards

Don't pay fees, application fees or annual fees. Have no application fee or a low fee.
Convert to a regular, unsecured credit card after 12-18 months of on-time payments.
Can't get a credit card? Take out a personal loan or line of credit from your bank.
Apply for a secured credit card. You pay them the money - set limit as high as you can. 1500-2500. Go to www.bankrate.com to get a list of secured credit cards.
Make sure they report to the 3 credit bureaus.

Payment history 35%
Length of history 15%
New Credit 10%
Types of credit used 10%
Debt 30%

FICO

You can verify what credit cards they are using by calling 1-877-220-1541.
Your FICO score is based on credit cards, car payments, and house loans over a 10 year period.
Forget the rest. Be sure the credit limit given is correct. The maximum amount you ever had will be posted. If you don't know your credit limit and give it to them, they assume you maxed out your card and both numbers match. This ruins your credit score, so have both and check it.
I recommend Suze Ormann's FICO Kit for $50/yr. It has great tools, pays for 2 credit reports and your 2 FICO scores, plus a mortgage calculator, and many debt management tools.

Loans

Personal, auto loans, mortgages, credit lines.
These differ from credit cards. You want 2 credit cards and 1 loan for optimum credit balance.

Myths

Truths

Serious Offences

Vital Statistics on each report